Lyrikal Responds, Sets Things Straight as His Name Is Implicated in Online Scandal.

There’s so much happening in Caribbean entertainment these days. Nailah Blackman’s launched her new band, SOAKAH, Konshens tied the knot, Bunji Garlin’s been teasing us about some vintage Garlin and Rihanna’s in Barbados bubbling to Sizzla Kalonji’s music. We can’t forget though that Trinidad and Tobago’s Shradah, a relatively young and less known female soca artiste, has been making some pretty strong and long- winded accusations, much of which surround an alleged sexual situation of which she was an alleged victim. Her Facebook LIVE outbursts have left some bewildered, but there are others who are concerned that her accusations could hurt their image and reputation, especially since, they don’t know what she’s speaking about.

Shradah has been silent on the music scene for a few years. Her sudden emergence is shrouded by sexual assault undertones.

Lyrikal’s name was subliminally called in one of Shradah’s videos and Lyro’s not happy about it at all. A great season likely ahead, the Brooklyn based carnival mainstay has been churning out the hits. He recently collaborated with Patrice Roberts on a single called, “Criminal Wine” – a Millbeatz Entertainment production. That tune’s been a favorite across the urban airwaves and as Lyro told us, the collaboration came quite unexpectedly with David Millien approaching him with news that he’d created something he thought would be perfect for him and Patsy. “What was crazy was that a few weeks prior, I had met Patrice in the Virgin Islands and she said to me, ‘aye Lyro we should collaborate on something some time’ and I agreed. We never planned anything,” he said. Lyrikal’s one of the most down to earth entertainers and with a humble persona that’s very approachable, the New Yorker’s name certainly isn’t one to be called in any kind of media scandal. At least up until now. “I don’t like my name being affiliated with anything like this, ” he said to us, referring to the videos posted by Shradah, and while he admits that the young mother and artiste did not directly say he assaulted her in any way, her remark that she had reached out to ‘Lyrikal’ for comfort after being allegedly assaulted by a local producer whose name she directly mentions in one of the videos, has Lyrikal stumped. “I know of her- I know her as an artiste. That’s it. We have never had a personal relationship of any kind for her say she would call me!,” said Martin. He said he recalls meeting Shradah once, years ago at Synergy TV, prior to an interview and was introduced to her by producer, Wendell Naipaul. “Wendell said he wanted us to do a song together but that never happened. That was 3 or 4 years ago,” said Lyrikal. We could hear the concern in his voice- the questions as to why Shradah would call his name of all people.

Lyrikal, the artiste who has given fans of soca songs like Loner, Freedom and Dip and Roll, is bothered by recent statements that implicate his name.

Lyrikal told EBUZZTT that if he could speak with Shradah now, he would ask her just that, “why would you say that you called me for comfort and that’s not true? That’s what I would ask her because everyone in my circle, whether artistes or DJs or whatever, know each other and the people who I deal with aren’t familiar with her like that,” said Lyrikal. He said despite everything, he is concerned about the young woman, lamenting that if she was in fact assaulted, he would hope that the authorities intervene and she gets the help she needs to deal with the situation. “I just did a show in New York with Nicki Minaj’s mother. It was all about empowering women and fighting against domestic violence and the abuse of women. I was actually the only soca artiste on that cast. I have a lot of female fans and I have seven sisters. I could never condone any kind of ill treatment against women,” said the entertainer.

Lyrikal’s looking forward to Carnival 2018 but admits that the numerous recent phone calls and enquiries about this particular situation, has bothered him. “I mean, I have feelings too. This definitely bothered me,” he said.

Martin’s already released four tracks ahead of C2K18 and says he has a couple more to come. Shradah meanwhile, has unleashed yet another social media video. In this one, she attempts to clear the air on what she says are her statements being misconstrued. “I never made sexual assault claims against Anson or Lyrikal,” she expresses.

Almost two weeks after her “black” feet made social media headlines and memes, Fay Ann Lyons launched a scathing attack against her critics yesterday, questioning their silence in the face of four brutal murders in La Brea, overnight.

A 69-year-old landlord, a female tenant, her daughter and a 14-year-old female friend of the woman’s daughter, were attacked, chopped and in the case of the elders, bludgeoned to death on Tuesday. Lyons-Alvarez, never one to be silent on matters of social interest, lashed out via a meme that featured the ever contained, Kermit the Frog as he sipped his usual tea. The meme expressed, “One set ah mouth for a foot. Murders in the country- they quiet.” It was all she needed to post to get the public stirred up.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the escalating crime situation bears heavily on the entertainment landscape, with many often lamenting the fear of venturing into certain areas and to certain events based on security concerns. Fay Ann Lyons hastened to chastise the critics yesterday, arguing that her physical appearance had seemingly churned up so much more attention than a situation that certainly warrants much more social interest and dialogue than the appearance of her feet.

The support was definitely relayed to the “Raise” singer, many accepting her point of view and reaction, though via meme. Lyons-Alvarez has maintained a strong position in the Caribbean’s entertainment arena, this despite being one of the most harshly critiqued entertainers in the Diaspora. Her slogan, “stay weird” echoes each time she posts to social media, making it abundantly clear that no matter what the world thinks of her, she will be herself in the face of it all.

From Destination Superiority to Rihanna’s 2 Billion Streams- Barbados is Having a Hell of A Month So Far!

Alison Hinds, Peter Ram, Rihanna, Deejay Puffy and all of the other Barbadian superstars now have a lot more to smile about when they rep their Bajan flag, this as the island has topped the Destination Satisfaction Index (DSI) for 2017. Barbados came in #1 out of 144 countries across the world, beating out Seychelles and Bermuda who came in second and third respectively. The announcement was made and awards presented to a Barbados delegation during a ceremony at ITB Berlin, the world’s leading travel trade show held in Germany this week.

So what’s the DSI? The DSI was developed and executed by two European research companies – Norstat and dp2research, and it’s a metric that measures the overall valuation of a holiday destination based on the factors travelers find most attractive. The survey, which took place last year featured some 70,000 travellers from around the world resulting in 1.4 million responses, covering over 20 categories including Beaches, Accommodation, Airlines, Security, Cuisine and Shopping; person between the ages 15-75 years old travelling for business and leisure. Barbados made an overall world score of 8.8/10 and also ranked highest in the Accommodation category, and highest in the Americas region ahead of Bermuda and the Bahamas.